This invention relates to smoking articles such as cigarettes, and in particular to cigarettes which produce sidestream smoke having a unique aroma.
Popular smoking articles such as cigarettes have a substantially rod shaped structure and include a charge of smokable material such as strands or shreds of tobacco (e.g., cut filler) surrounded by a paper wrapper thereby providing a so-called "tobacco rod." Numerous popular cigarettes have cylindrical filter elements aligned in an end-to-end relationship with the tobacco rod. Typically, filter elements are constructed from fibrous materials such as cellulose acetate, have a circumscribing plug wrap, and are attached to the tobacco rod using tipping material.
Cigarettes are employed by the user by burning one end thereof. The user then receives mainstream smoke into his/her mouth by drawing on the opposite end (e.g., filter end) of the cigarette. Typically, a person using a cigarette draws on or puffs the article about 5 to about 10 times, and each puff lasts about 0.5 second to about 2 seconds. Typically, a burning cigarette has a useful lifetime of from about 1 minute to about 10 minutes.
During the time that the cigarette is not being drawn upon by the user, it remains burning and sidestream smoke can be generated. Sidestream smoke is smoke which directly enters the atmosphere during the burning of a smoking article. Sidestream smoke diffuses into the atmosphere and the characteristic odor thereof may be perceived negatively by certain individuals.
Netherlands Patent Application No. 8102094 discloses a smoking article in the form of a cigar whereby the leaf wrapping is covered by microcapsules having an aromatic inner phase. In particular, it is disclosed that the heat at the burning end of the cigar causes the microcapsules to lose their structure and release the aromatic substance near the spot where the sidestream smoke ensues. However, the disclosed microcapsules are fairly large in size, and treatments such as matting are required in order to provide cigars having an acceptable appearance.
It would be highly desirable to provide a smoking article such as a cigarette (i) having an acceptable appearance which when employed by the user provides highly pleasant smelling sidestream smoke, and (ii) which delivers good tobacco taste to the user.